Rachel Younger

News Correspondent

Crowds lined the streets of Cambridge to watch the start of the third stage of the Tour De France on its final day in the UK.

After a weekend that saw over two-and-a-half million spectators supporting the riders in Yorkshire, the East Anglian city has been criticised for not extending a warmer welcome to the biggest cycle race on Earth.

Unlike many Northern towns, Cambridge was notably short of the welcome banners and homemade decorations sported by so many homes in Yorkshire as its stage of the race was being held on a weekday.

But this is a city with more bikes per square mile than anywhere else in Britain, and with its ancient colleges bathed in summer sunshine, the excitement mounted as the team buses negotiated the narrow streets.

Many schools in the area closed for the day to let pupils watch some of the finest names in cycling pass through their neighbourhoods en route to London.

And by the time the race got under way, crowds were four deep in much of the city and the only complaint then from spectators was that it was too busy.

Locals hung out of windows and climbed into roofs to get a decent view of the action.

Eleven-year-old Tom Field from Dunstable was determined to catch a glimpse of his hero.

"I'm here to see Chris Froome," he said. "I love cycling and seeing the Tour here inspires me to try and get as good as them."

But one family from Bury St Edmunds who had followed the Tour down from Yorkshire felt Cambridge could have done more to welcome the riders.

"In Harrogate the streets were packed seven hours before the race arrived. I don't think they've embraced the Tour here in the same way Yorkshire did," Trevor Slark-Hollis, watching alongside his wife and three young children, said.

The Tour's director Christian Prudhomme told Sky News he was thrilled to be in a city with "cycling in its DNA".

"Cambridge to London is a prestigious stage - it's a great day for us," he said. "But what we saw in Yorkshire exceeded our wildest expectations. We will be back."